#FridayFive: Five Things I Hope to Achieve in the Next Five Years

Happy Friday!

If you know me, then you’ll know I always like to have a plan in place, goals to meet and targets to achieve.

I always like to set myself goals whether that be in my personal life, my career plan or blog-wise. Having goals always gives me something to work towards and is that little bit of motivation I need to make myself better at everything I do.

A while ago I set myself a five year plan, a seven year plan and a ten year plan. But I thought I would share some of the goals that are on my five year plan because perhaps if I put them out there into the world, it may help make them happen.

I know you’re probably thinking ‘What a nut-job having so many plans for the future!’ and I know that none of us can predict the future, plans can change and next year I could make a complete u-turn and want something different from life. But I have these plans in place so that I always know what I’m working towards and it gives me that little bit extra motivation to try and achieve them within a time-span. Sometimes life happens and things can change, I know that, but if things go smoothly then below are five things I hope to achieve in the next five years.

1. A first class honours degree

This one I hope to achieve in the next 12 months. I’m setting the bar high because I hope to graduate with a first. I finished my first and second years of university with firsts, so I hope to make it three in a row and finish with the same.

I excelled in my GCSE’s but when it came to my A Levels I got very side-tracked by things outside of school and didn’t get the A Level results that I had hoped for, and I knew I had let myself down by not studying. I don’t want the same thing to happen during my final year. I want to enjoy myself, make the most of my last year in Liverpool, work but also get the results I need.

I’m setting out for a first, and I’m going to work my hardest in order to get it.

2. Financial stability, wherever I am and whatever I’m doing

I have never had an overdraft nor wanted one. I accidentally go into the red a few times with a balance of £-1.00 or so, but not often. One thing I’m very particular about is money worries. I don’t want to have them and always make sure I have enough money to last me for the next six months or more.

One thing I’ve learnt is that if I know I have to save, I will. I had saved my entire year of London rent before I moved from working two jobs during my second year because I didn’t want the worry of not meeting rent payments and for 80% of my wages to go to my rent. I always want to be financially secure.

The same goes for this year. I’ve saved my rent for this year, but after that goes I don’t have much left. I’m going to be in part-time work but it’s not the wage I’m used to from last year and my student loan is never enough. I’m worried about post-graduation and the thought of going home because I don’t have enough money, but I’m going to have to think of something if I want to pursue my goal next year.

In five years time, I want to be living somewhere exciting but securely. I don’t want loan repayments coming out of my ears, overdrafts or people chasing me for money. I want to be in a well-paid job, a roof over my head and enough money to be able to eat and drink.

3. Have a lot of PR connections through my blog and interning

A lot can happen in the next five years and a lot of jobs may come and go. Through my blog, jobs, Twitter, past internships, I hope to have a lot of PR connections dotted around the globe that I can learn from and reach out to for advice.

I want to attend as many PR events as I possibly can, get in touch with as many PR people as I can, meet them, learn from them and hopefully grasp all the advice and teachings that I can in order to be the best PR person that I can be. As Einstein once said, ‘Once you stop learning, you start dying.’

4. Be in a job that I love, in a sector that I love, in a company that I love

I don’t want to work in a job that I hate. I want to wake up every day and look forward to going to work. I want to love what I do and know that I’m making a difference by doing it. Being from a small town, I know so many people that hate their jobs and live for the weekends or their next holiday. It’s the norm where I’m from. They don’t think that doing something you love is possible. To them, work is work and you’re meant to hate it.

Well that life isn’t for me. I’ve had a taste of an amazing job, something I can’t wait to spend my day, week and month doing. Now that I’ve had that, I won’t settle for anything less. If I’m in a job that I hate then I’ll leave because I know there’s something better out there for me. I’m not afraid to move country for it, to up everything and go. You will spend most of your life working, so you may as well love what you do.

There are many sectors and industries within PR that I want to try before I decide on which one I want to stick with. I’ve tried the fashion, beauty, entertainment, corporate, business and internal communications sectors of PR. I still want to try music, digital, sport, current affairs and media sectors before I make my decision on which I like best and which I’m best at.

5. Have lived in three or more different cities or countries

My plan for the next five years is to live in a few different cities and work in the PR industries there to see how different organisations work in a different culture and how they do PR. In five years I would love to say that I have worked and lived in Liverpool, London, New York, Sydney, Nashville, Dublin, Paris, Singapore, Dubai… the list goes on.

I definitely feel like my early twenties is the best time to do this, before I choose where I want to settle permanently and start working full-time for the foreseeable future.

1 Comment

Your financial focus is also to be applauded – but I fear that may be the least achievable of your goals. You may well have to invest in your career in the short-term before reaping the rewards in your 30s (that was my experience, anyway).

David Sawyer’s new book RESET has lots more on the challenge of financial independence. It’s a book for middle-aged professionals, but there’s lots of wisdom in there.